How to Create a Website?

Learning how to create a website is a simple process that, at its simplest, just involves
following straightforward instructions. Usually people get intimidated with the process of
creating a website, thinking that they need to be great designers or HTML gurus. The truth
is that you want to create a website so that it can fulfill a function. Unless you're going
for the arty look, your business or personal website would do much better with a simple but
professional design that helps your visitors get directly to the point you're trying to make
(or product that you're trying to sell) without distracting them with bells and whistles.

Of course, there are some technical details associated with creating a website. Firstly, you
have to select a domain name and find a web host suitable for your needs. And then, you need
to create your first web page. Let's look at all these one by one.

Step 1 - Internet domain name registration

Just a few years ago, Internet domain name registration would cost you close to US$30 per year.
Today, you can find domains for as cheap as $9.95 and many web hosting services provider even
comes with free domain names if you choose to host your website with them.

Choosing your Internet domain name

Your Internet domain name is very important; it will identify your website and your business,
and as a marketing tool it can be very powerful. If you're building an online business, take
care not to select an Internet domain name based on your "area". For example, if you run a
business consultancy practice, naming your website business-consulting-florida.com might make help
a little with the search engines ranking, but it doesn't "sell" your business. Instead, choose an
Internet domain name that can become your brand identity. Even if you're not a big online business,
having a brand and an identity can help your business and give it a professional edge.

Registering domain name

Once you've selected an Internet domain name that properly
defines your business and can be marketing as your brand
identity, registering domain name is the next process. At this
point your choice of registrar (a company that will register
your Internet domain name) depends quite a lot on your hosting
package. Many cheap web hosting services offer bundled solutions
that give you a free domain name along with their web hosting
packages. The catch, which is not so bad when you think about
it, is that you have to host your website with them at least for
a year. Not only the web hosting provider will register your
domain name for free (keep in mind that the ownership of the
domain name is still belongs to you), some will even renew your
domain name every year as long as you continue to host your
website with them.

As an alternative, you can also register your Internet domain name independently. Registrar like
GoDaddy gives fantastic deals on Internet domain names, with prices as low as $9.95 per year.
If you register a domain name with the intention to sell it for a profit in the future,
this way you can simply park your domain with the registrar while you decide what to do with it without paying for hosting.
Otherwise, if you plan to setup a website with the registered domain name, you would still have to look for a
web hosting provider to host your website. Having said that, you can register your domain name with a regsitrar,
while hosting your website with another web hosting provider. In other words, domain name and web hosting can be
independent from each other. You can read our article on
cheap domain name registration for more details.

Step 2 - Low cost web hosting services

Some top of the line web hosting packages can cost you an arm and a limb - yet for prices such as
$25 or even $50 per month, these web hosting services can be worth their weight considering the
services they offer. However, when you're starting out and especially when you're creating your
first website, you'd want to stay within your budget.

Finding an affordable web hosting company

With the brutal competition in web hosting industry, finding an affordable web hosting company
that delivers is a lot easier today. Here, take a look at our recommended
cheap web hosting services that not only offer free domain name but also give excellent value for the money
(as low as US$3.95 per month) and leave your business room to grow.

Step 3 - Design web pages

Designing web pages can seem terribly complex until you build your first one. And then your
second one. By your third web page, you start getting the hang of it and before long, designing
web pages becomes a simple task.

How to design a web page

The best way to start with designing a web page is to use a visual HTML editor like
Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage. These are also known as WYSIWYG editors, and are extremely
easy to use. If you are not prepare to pay for these popular HTML editors, you can always search
free website builders from the Internet. Many of these HTML editors come with predefined templates so that you don't even
need to know at the beginning how to create a whole website from the start; all you do is select
a template, fill in your information and site content, do some minor customization and your first
web page is complete. Best of all, you can find many
free HTML templates on the Internet where you can download and use too.

How to create a website? It is easy once you understand that your website
is not the end goal. Your business is. Your website is just a tool to get
your business message across, and like all tools, all you need to know is
how to use it properly.

To create your website, it is important to choose the right solution that
match your skills level. Below are three options you can consider to create your
website depending upon your level of skills in web development:

Option 1:

If you are totally a newbies!

If you plan to create a business website with own domain name to promote your products/services.

If you plan to create a personal website for yourself and family to publish your photo albums online with your own domain name.

If your website consists of mainly HTML web pages. Or you are not even sure what you need to create your website.

If you plan to create a business website with own domain name to promote your products/services.

If your website consists of mainly HTML web pages. Or you are not even sure what you need to create your website.

If you don't know anything about web design.

If you're planning to sell products/services from your website and you need e-commerce
supports on your website.

If you plan to have an e-commerce website that requires database, online payment and secure certificates.
And you are planning to pay between US$30 - $50 a month.

Our recommendation:Yahoo! Merchant Solution

Yahoo! Merchant Solution is a good turn key solution for both personal or business online store.
You can create and customize your profession-looking online store in
minutes with product catalog creation, shopping cart, checkout,
payment processing, shipping and taxes, order processing and even
inventory management. This option is well within your budget at US$39.95US$25.97 per month now!

If you appreciate the brand of Yahoo! that signify reliability and
trustworthiness especially for an online store, you should really consider Yahoo! Merchant Solution.
Moreover, Yahoo! Merchant Solutions offers an easy store design wizard to build, manage, and promote a professional
online store with no web design knowledge required. See how easy it is to design your
online store. Go to
Yahoo! Merchant Solution and click on the '>> View Demo' button!

Option3:

If you are an experience webmaster!

If you plan to create a business website with own domain name to promote your products/services.

If you plan to create a personal website for yourself and family to publish your photo albums online with your own domain name.

You can design your own website using web authoring tools such as
Frontpage or Dreamweaver! You have no problem using FTP, setup email
account...etc.

If you're planning/not planning to sell anything from your website.

If your budget is modest and looking to pay less than US$10 a month.

Our recommendation:BlueHost Web Hosting

This option is for experienced user only. If you know how to create web pages,
upload your web pages to server using FTP, setup email account,
mySQL database (if required) ... etc then you can consider BlueHost web hosting.
BlueHost web hosting costs only US$3.95 per month for Unix-based application
with unlimited diskspace and bandwidth. BlueHost web hosting plan also comes with eCommerce
feature should you plan to sell anything from your website.
Click here to find out more!

If you have any questions regarding the web hosting options recommended
above or you wish to know other possible options, please
contact us.

Disclosure: We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. We test each product
thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own.